The Union government has amended guidelines on power exports to allow Adani Power to sell electricity contracted to Bangladesh within India in certain situations, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The move is expected to help safeguard Adani Power against possible disruptions caused by the political crisis in Bangladesh.

In 2018, the Narendra Modi government framed guidelines on generators that supply power exclusively to a neighbouring country. Adani Power’s 1,600-megawatt power plant in Jharkhand’s Godda district is currently the only one that has a contractual obligation to supply all the electricity it generates to another country – in this case, Bangladesh.

A memo passed by the Union power ministry on August 12 amended the guidelines to state that the government “may permit connection of such generating station to the Indian grid to facilitate sale of power within India in case of sustained non-scheduling of full or part capacity”, according to Reuters.

The amendment also allows for the sale of power to the Indian grid if payments are delayed, according to Reuters.

The Adani Group said that the move would help increase the overall availability of electricity in India.

However, Adani Power’s electricity exports to Bangladesh have long been at the centre of controversy, with experts contending that it entails Dhaka buying power at exorbitantly high prices. The Opposition parties in Bangladesh have criticised the arrangement, calling it an “extremely uneven deal signed with an ulterior motive”.

The Adani Group firm sells power to the neighbouring country under an agreement signed in 2017 when the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government was in power in Dhaka. The memorandum of understanding between the Adani Group and Dhaka was signed in August 2015, shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Bangladesh.

The Opposition parties in India have questioned whether Modi was directly involved in the deal between the Adani Group and the Bangladesh government.

Last year, however, the Bangladesh Power Development Board wrote to the company seeking that the agreement be revised.

While there was no official statement on the revisions sought, an unidentified official had told Bangladeshi news agency UNB that the high prices were the point of contention.

“In our view, the coal price they have quoted (USD400/MT) is excessive – it should be less than USD 250/MT, which is what we are paying for the imported coal at our other thermal power plants,” the official had said.

This came against the backdrop of a January 2023 report by United States-based short-seller Hindenburg Research alleging that the Adani Group was pulling off the “largest con in corporate history”.

Hindenburg Research had claimed at the time that the conglomerate has over the decades been involved in stock manipulation, accounting fraud, used offshore shells for money laundering and siphoned money from listed companies.

The Adani Group had denied the allegations and called the report a “calculated attack” on India and its institutions.

The Indian government amended the guidelines on electricity exports nearly a week after Hasina resigned as Bangladesh’s prime minister and fled to India amid protests seeking her ouster. On August 8, Nobel laureate economist Muhammad Yunus took over as the head of an interim government.

More than 400 persons died in protests that began in July against a controversial quota scheme for government jobs. The agitation subsequently evolved into a broader agitation against Hasina’s Awami League government.

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